Pages

Sunday, 13 November 2016

A few changes, maybe

I've had a busy week - I think this is the longest I've managed to sit down since last Sunday, so I'm making the most of it by catching up on blog reading.

A work colleague broke his nose last weekend, so I covered a few extra hours which threw out my gym training completely; and I met up with a couple of different friends for a hot chocolate, so I've severely overdosed on sugar and feeling a bit jittery.

However, I kept to schedule on my NaNoWriMo writing, although I might be a little behind now because of some other tasks I've set myself. Yesterday I felt I was just putting random words down, feeling completely bored with the story, and not knowing where it was going. All the ideas I had where either too similar to something I've written before, or too similar to something I've read recently.

But then last night, as I was falling asleep (oh, my writing muse really picks her time!), I had a bit of an epiphany, which I'll attempt to map out this afternoon.

On top of all that, on Friday I had a chat with a consultant-type person about online marketing and promotion. The good news is that what I do is pretty good. The bad news is... all the stuff I don't yet do. So, that's my latest job,

It may mean some changes to my blog, but I don't know yet.

It may mean some changes to how I present myself, but I don't fully know that either yet.

I'm about 8,000 words behind the official NaNo word count if that makes you feel any better! Honestly, if you read what I've written so far this month, you wouldn't believe I was capable of even speaking english, never mind being a writer - but I'm just ploughing on and I'll think about sorting out my huge mess of words after November! I also tend to have all my ideas just as I'm falling asleep - it's very frustrating.

If you need any help with any aspect of marketing/social media etc btw, feel free to give me a shout - I can't promise I have all the answers, but it's what I do for my day job, so if I can help in any way, I'd be more than happy too :). Have a great week, Annalisa!

Lol, I totally understand about speaking/writing English. What I love about NaNo is that I can completely waffle until something good appears - it all counts towards the final tally. I just turned those words a different colour, so that I know not to take them seriously when I'm editing in January.

Hi Annalisa - thanks for the visit ... in the circumstances. Poor chap - a broken nose is not funny, I would think. Well done on keeping NaNo going ... Now as Alex says let us know how your changes progress ... interesting times -cheers Hilary

I already know there's a lot more I should be doing promotion and marketing-wise. Hmm, maybe 2017 will be the year for that?

Good luck with your NaNo novel epiphany! I'm a bit behind in the word count, but I spent a chunk of time this past weekend working on story stuff so hopefully I'll hit the ground running this week. Fingers crossed for all us NaNo-ers! :)

Sounds like you've got it sorted now, Madeline. As for the promotion, I think I'm going to have to set aside an hour a day - or two half hours, spread out to cover the European and US time zones. It breaks it down into manageable chunks, keeps it regular and won't interfere too much with the writing. You can have that tip for free :-)

One of my friends said the other day that they should write a book because they have lots of great ideas that would result in best sellers for sure. No, I did not laugh, nor did I smile. I looked as seriously as possible and nodded. Good luck with all your changes, Annalisa. Best of success to you.

I love how you ended with "I don't know yet", leaving the door open for possibilities, making yourself flexible instead of becoming rigid and frozen...something which is the death of everyone in a way, I think, not just writers!

There's so much to learn, right? I thought I was a branding rebel, but realized after looking at both my blog content and the books that I've actually sold, that I'm not. I write about writing, my writing prompts books sell far better than my fantasy books. Hmm. Happy writing with NaNo!

I hope you have it all worked out. Funny how those epiphanies hit us in the middle of the night or when we are trying to sleep. I'm sure you will make the right decision and I'm looking forward to your post that you write that tells us all about it. I'm not yet in the marketing phase so I can't offer any suggestions, sorry. I'm doing NaNo, and I didn't have a good week, but fortunately I got a jumpstart the first week and worked ahead or else I would be way behind in my word count. I really love what I'm writing this time and tnat makes such a difference. My problem right now is that I don't know my ending. I have two ideas spinning around in my head and I can't decide whether or not I want one of my characters to make amends for her wrong doings or remain really bad. Good luck with your NaNo book.

Intrigued about those changes you're talking of...? I'm not sure I'd dare visit a marketing consultant, hear all the things I'm doing wrong and the list of things I need to add. Well done indeed that you're on the right track. And well done again for keeping on track with NaNo - hugely impressive. I'm on 12k words. Ooops! Think I may be over-relying on the up-coming weekend (and I know this is not the spirit of a daily challenge). Best of luck with everything!